In the wake of the U.K.'s postponement of U.S.-U.K. open-skies talks that the U.K. earlier requested be held last week (DAILY, July 1), United and the City of Chicago weighed in with opposing views over Virgin Atlantic's bid for winter-season O'Hare slots. Virgin asked DOT for the slots after FAA told the carrier it could not accommodate the request (DAILY, June 24). The U.K. does not have a comparable mechanism for U.S. carriers to obtain access to slot-restricted airports, so principles of reciprocity do not apply, United said.
Pilot hirings continued strong in June, with 1,306 pilots added to payrolls. So far this year, 7,579 pilots found jobs, 441 with the 13 major carriers and 378 with nationals, according to Atlanta-based AIR, Inc. The company estimated there will be 13,500 new pilot jobs overall in 1999, 3,300 at the majors and 4,300 at the nationals.
Italy's Mario Monti, has been designated to take over from Karel Van Miert as the European Union's powerful competition commissioner, and the Spaniard Loyola de Palacio will be the next transport commissioner, succeeding Neil Kinnock. Kinnock will stay on as one of two EC vice presidents, charged with reforming the European executive body. Palacio also will serve as vice president, coordinating relations with the European Parliament. Van Miert, who served three terms, will pursue an academic career.
DOT granted United a second waiver, through Sept. 30, of dormancy provisions on the carrier's seven U.S.-Santiago-Lima combination frequencies. United suspended service on the route Oct. 5, 1998, and DOT granted it a waiver. United told DOT it will resume service in the market "as soon as market conditions warrant." Continental opposed the request, telling DOT that conditions on U.S.-South America routes are "rapidly changing" and urging DOT to award the frequencies to any applicant seeking Lima-Santiago frequencies.
United's June traffic June fell 0.5% on 2.5% more capacity, which forced the load factor down 2.3 percentage points to 74.2%. The airline experienced declining load factors on its domestic, Atlantic and Pacific routes, which it attributed to its transition to a new yield-management system. While the carrier believes its software glitches are resolved, officials shared American's concerns about ongoing air traffic control problems surrounding Chicago O'Hare (DAILY, July 6).
Boeing delivered 313 jetliners in the first half of 1999, a pace that it said puts it on track to deliver a record 620 commercial aircraft for the full year. Last year, it delivered 563 commercial aircraft. Boeing said it delivered 165 aircraft in the second quarter, an 11.5% increase from the first quarter, and a 20.4% increase over the 1998 second quarter. The 737 next-generation program accounted for 78 of the second quarter deliveries.
US Airways Shuttle started hourly Boston-Washington Reagan service and on Sept. 9 will launch Boston-Washington Dulles flights. Shuttle also will begin introducing new Airbus A320 aircraft on Oct. 2 and expand the use of the aircraft to all Shuttle routes over the next year. Shuttle customers will earn 500 Dividend Miles plus 500 American AAdvantage miles for each US Airways Shuttle flight they take through Dec. 31.
Senate Appropriations fiscal 2000 transportation money bill contains a provision prohibiting DOT from creating "peanut-free zones" on domestic aircraft until Congress and DOT receive a peer-reviewed scientific study showing that some passengers have severe allergic reactions as a result of contact with very small airborne peanut particles.
Singapore Airlines will launch a 39-city marketing blitz Aug. 2 aimed at U.S. travel agents, using a 48-foot, 18-wheel truck. The mobile display will house model replicas of SIA's new first-and business classes featured in its long-haul Boeing 747 fleet. SIA's aggressive campaign comes days after it told travel agents that it will switch from a 9% commission to a "productivity incentive" scheme (DAILY, July 7).
American reported a record-breaking 82.9% load factor July 2, one of the top five load factors in the company's history. The airline posted three of its top five all-time load factors this year.
Congress returns today for the most critical four-week period of the year for FAA legislation.During this period, Congress will have to sort out whether it wants an FAA reauthorization closer to the House approach of taking aviation trust funds off budget or the Senate Commerce Committee approach of using slots as a vehicle for creating competition, yet it cannot ignore the administration's approach of replacing aviation excise taxes with service-based charges if it wants to avoid a presidential veto.
Thievery rose 26% at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport in the first four months of 1999, with luggage, laptops and cellular phones topping the list of most stolen. The airport became the world's busiest last year, handling 73.5 million passengers.
The attempt by House appropriators to recover from a $5.925 billion snafu that wiped out its FAA operations budget for fiscal 2000 probably will be the overriding issue in conference with the Senate, expected this month. Also on the horizon is some hard bargaining over FAA's facilities and equipment account - $2.3 billion requested - which funds the air traffic control modernization program.
DOT granted TWA two-year initial exemptions for scheduled combination service between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Caracas, Venezuela, and between San Juan and points in the Dominican Republic, Aruba, and Netherlands Antilles. TWA intends to operate daily San Juan-Caracas nonstops and three daily San Juan-Santo Domingo flights, with plans for San Juan-Puerto Plata service. It also will inaugurate daily San Juan-Aruba flights, later adding San Juan-St. Maarten service.
SAS's June traffic increased 2% year-over-year to 2.08 billion revenue passenger kilometers, resulting in a load factor of 71.0%, the highest this year. Freight volume rose 3% in June and 2% for the year. SAS carried 2.11 million passengers last month, up 4%. About 3% of the capacity increase was attributable to last June's labor troubles in Norway, officials said. Business-class traffic was down 3.1% and economy-class traffic up 3.9%.
Fort Lauderdale-based Gulfstream International Airlines has launched a major service expansion with 54 trips from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to St. Thomas and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and St. Maarten and St. Kitts, effective Nov. 1. Gulfstream also will establish intra-island flights between St. Thomas and St. Croix. Gulfstream will base six Beech jetprop aircraft in San Juan initially and hire about 75 local people to support the expansion. The move represents a 24% increase in the airline's total flights.
The 10 largest U.S. carriers posted an on-time arrivals record of 76.2% in May, better than the 75.7% achieved in Apri, but not as good as May 1998's 77.5%, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report. In May, TWA and Northwest traded places for highest on-time arrivals, posting better numbers than in April. TWA was first, 82.4%, Northwest second, 82.3%, and Delta third, 79.7%, with Southwest statistically fourth, also with 79.7%. United was eighth, 73.7%, Alaska ninth, 70.8%, and American 10th, 65.2%. American was 10th in April, with 69.7%.
Mexicana will formally join the Star Alliance in July 2000, officials confirmed yesterday in Mexico City (DAILY, July 7). The carrier, Mexico's second-largest, already has code-share agreements with Star members United, Air Canada and Lufthansa, and said it hopes its membership will provide the alliance with a boost in Latin America. Mexicana flies more than seven million passengers per year, with services to 29 cities in Mexico, 11 in the U.S., two in Canada, three in Central America, three in South America and two in the Caribbean.
